virgin

Virgin Media launches TiVo box in U.K.

Good news, square-eyes: TiVo is back in Britain. Virgin Media launched its TiVo-powered set-top box this week, allowing your telly to access an app store and record things it thinks you'll like. Magic powers, basically.

The TiVo set-top box includes a whopping 1TB hard drive, which means you'll be able to store huge amounts of television, even in high definition. It has two tuners, with a third tuner being added in 2011.

Crave UK got a quick look at the box and it's everything we wanted: an incredible PVR with a powerful recommendation engine and a brand … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1361: Celebrity zombies on Twitter (podcast)

Verizon's launching its LTE network on Sunday, the FCC is proposing a plan for Net neutrality tomorrow, and Google is about to take over the world EVEN MORE with its e-book venture (we're sure the EU is going to love that). Also, that deafening silence you hear on Twitter is the sound of a bunch of celebrities playing dead to raise money for AIDS. New meme: celebrity zombie impersonator accounts! Get yours today! --Molly

Buzz Out Loud 1360: Level 3 vs. Comcast: it's massive

On today's show, once the amazing Benito finally gets the studio in working order, we break down the Level 3 and Comcast battle--no matter how you slice it, it's still very, very, VERY bad for the Web. VERY. Also, Cyber Monday proves, once more, that marketing works. And NASA is apparently set to announce that aliens are walking among us. And we're just buying the Playboy hard drive collection for the storage. --Molly

Richard Branson's quest for shiny iPad stardom

NEW YORK--There must be something squirreled away in the human brain that is hard-wired to go absolutely bonkers at the sight of anything that's shiny, slick, and begging to be touched. That, after all, is how Apple CEO Steve Jobs sells products.

But an iPad is only as good as the things you can do on it, and in this sense the device is implicitly a bit of a challenge, an Everest to climb or an English Channel to swim, for developers and entrepreneurs: What can you do on this? How can you take advantage of the features it … Read more

Get a no-contract Android smartphone for $189.99

If you've been eyeballing a smartphone but couldn't stomach the idea of paying $60 to $70 per month (minimum) for service, have I got a deal for you. Like, a Best-of-the-Year kind of deal.

For a limited time, Best Buy has the Android-powered Virgin Mobile Samsung Intercept smartphone for $189.99 shipped (plus sales tax in most states).

That may not sound terribly cheap, but hear me out. The Intercept normally sells for $249.99, and that's what I paid for one (for Mrs. Cheapskate) just over a month ago. D'oh!

Furthermore, it's not about … Read more

Spycams that can see around corners

Links from Friday's episode of Loaded:

MySpace now lets you sign in with your Facebook account.

We have first impressions and pricing for the Dell Inspiron Duo.

Virgin Mobile USA offers cheap broadband plans for its MiFi at Walmart.

The 10-inch Archos tablet has started to ship.

The TikTok and LunaTik are some of the more stylish iPod Nano watchbands we've seen.

A woman in China is sentenced to a year in labor camp for a retweet that the government said "disturbed social order."

Scientists at MIT have developed a camera that can photograph around corners.… Read more

STD SMS

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Google is providing free Wi-Fi on several airlines' domestic flights for the holidays

A new browser called RockMelt will make you even more attached to your social networks

Hasbro is bringing back the viewfinder, only this time it's for the iPhone and it's in 3D

The Motorola Droid Pro is available for preorder today

3D glasses are coming soon from Oakley, Machon, and Calvin Klein

Your cell phone may soon be able to diagnose an STD

Buzz Out Loud 1336: Introducing the Nook hook (podcast)

On today's show, we're predicting what Barnes and Noble will announce tomorrow for the Nook--early mockups seem to indicate a mystery hook on the bottom that could maybe, uh, attach to your belt-loop? Also, Google admits that the 600GB of data "fragments" it collected from its Street View cars might kind of, funnily enough, include email addresses, passwords, and complete email text. Oh, and phone numbers. Great. --Molly

Virgin Mobile's first Android phone (review)

The Samsung Intercept may be a first for Virgin Mobile, but we hope it's the start of a beautiful relationship between the prepaid carrier (a Sprint subsidiary) and the Android platform.

There's a lot to like about this Android phone, including the Android 2.1 operating system, a combination touch-screen-plus-QWERTY keyboard, and all of Google's tightly integrated apps and services, including turn-by-turn navigation, Google contact and calendar sync, and Gmail with threaded messaging.

Be sure to check out our full review, video, and slideshow if you're considering this phone.

PayLo by Virgin Mobile reveals $30 voice-centric plan

As popular as unlimited text messaging and data plans are, there are still cell phone users who want affordable voice-centric plans. That's where PayLo by Virgin Mobile comes in. This lower-tier prepaid arm of Virgin Mobile is introducing a new 1,500-minute plan for $30, which also includes 500 messages and 10MB of Web access. The $30 plan expires in a month. PayLo also offers two other plans: $20 for 400 minutes that expire in a month, and a basic 20-cents-a-minute plan that expires in 90 days. Not providing unlimited text and data allows them company to offer a … Read more